Into The Void

by Ryan Frieda

  He could see the comet burning up upon entry. It appeared to be tearing the atmosphere open as it entered. The massive amounts of energy entering the atmosphere was warming the planet ever so little. A couple more explosions and shock waves and he was able to free himself from most of the rocks that clung to his suit. He started to move, unsure of where to head. He just knew he needed to get away from here. He needed to put as much distance as he could between here and the comet's location. As he tried to get up he fell down. He forgot how bad his condition was. He looked at himself and knew that he wasn't able to run. He decided to try and hide behind a rock.

  He moved around the corner onto a smaller ledge. He looked for a cave and saw one about 300 yards ahead. He started to move as fast as he could, using a combination of crawling and standing up and and taking a couple steps before falling down. He looked back and saw that the comet had clearly entered the atmosphere. He had 100 yards to go. He kept pushing forward going as fast as he could. He was only dozen yards from it when he looked back and saw a large explosion, followed by an deafening sound, followed by a massive shock wave that caused the tectonic plates of the planet to break upward causing him to fly high into the air.

  All around him he could see rocks floating into air as the tectonic plates were ripped apart. He must have been 1,000 feet up. A secondary explosion and shock wave caused by part of the comet caused the rocks that were in the air to fly away from the epicenter of the collision. The shock wave caused him to fly away from his location. His DSSM turned on at that moment and read that he was currently flying at close to 5,000 miles per hour. He braced for impact when a third explosion and shock wave caused the tectonic plate below him to fly upward, along with large amounts of liquid mercury from the planet's core. The tectonic plate flew up and he hit it at an angle causing him to bounce upward. Another explosion and shock wave caused him to fly away at speeds close to 6,000 miles per hour.

  Captain Steele braced for impact when the rest of the comet that had broken off landed on the planet. This explosion resulted in an explosion 15 times the size of the one that killed off the the dinosaurs on Earth: equivalent to 1,500 teratons of TNT, which was about 120 billion times stronger than each of the bombs that hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.

  The resulting explosion caused the planet to break apart. The tectonic plates were sheared into pieces and all the sharp jagged rocks on them were broken off and let loose into the sky. The entire atmosphere caught fire and started burning causing Captain Steele to catch on fire. He already had exposed skin and bone because of the liquid mercury burning through his suit and this just added to his injuries. The shock wave of the explosion caused him to fly at close to mach 25, or 17,000 miles per hour. His suit caught fire as he was propelled several times faster than the speed of sound. As he was propelled around in the air he ended up circling the planet as additional shock waves propelled him like a metal ball in a pinball machine around the burning atmosphere in all directions. He was moving up and down and around so much that he couldn't keep track of where he was.

  He was bouncing off rocks and tectonic plates, causing the rocks to shatter as he went through them. He bounced around in all directions like a pinball in a machine, hitting everything which caused his bones to break. His DSSM suit was doing everything it could to stabilize his rotation but he was flying too fast. As he was flying around he would occasionally fly through floating streams of burning hot liquid mercury as it shot up from the planet's core when the tectonic plates split violently. Before long the planet's entire atmosphere had consumed itself in fire, the tectonic plates had broken off and shattered, the core of the planet had cooled off and been broken apart, and the comet was broken into pieces and was mixed along with the rocks of the planet.

  Due to the amount of mass on the planet, there was a large amount of gravitons, the particle responsible for creating gravity, and when the planet started to tear apart the gravity of the planet tore in multiple directions as well. This caused him to be sling shotted around, in and out of vacuum and zero g's as explosions and shock waves pummeled him. He could hear his bones snapping and shattering each time he smashed through a rock and as he was violently jerked around by the gravity of the remaining tectonic plates.

  Captain Steele was being thrown around at mach 25, smashing into rocks that were thrown up from the planet, exposing the boiling hot mercury inside them, then bouncing off tectonic plates, all while on fire from the atmosphere burning, while being sling shotted around from different gravitational forces pulling him in multiple directions, and into and out of vacuum and zero gravity, all while surviving the intense pressurized void created by the destruction of a planet. Eventually the planet's tectonic plates broke up so much that there was nothing but debris all over. Each time he smashed through a rock his bones would crack or break, the molten mercury would burn his already exposed skin, and every time he was thrown into vacuum he could feel the effects of it causing the water on his skin and blood in his veins to boil because of the lack of pressure. He knew that unless he got a message out to Jamie, he was going to die. He tried to send a message but he hit another rock causing him to pass out.

  After 10 days of repairing the ship Captain Steele went back to the bulkhead that seals the lab.

  “Open the bulkhead Jamie. Lets get the lab back.”

  The bulkhead opened and Captain Steele saw the lab rotating around the “Y” and “Z” axis. It was rotating sideways from bottom to top, and spinning backwards from front to back at the same time. The lab was so big that trying to stop its rotation was going to be hard. If he pushed it too hard in one direction it would continue to rotate in the direction he pushed it in. He was never going to get the lab to completely stop rotating, all he could do is help stabilize its rotation. There was also the problem of all the damage. There were so many parts that had holes in it and parts of the hull were jutting out to the point where they would need to be cut off. If he didn't cut the parts off well enough it could hit the ship causing it to rotate away from the ship or even tear the ship.

  Captain Steele weighed his options. He knew that the weight distribution of force on the ship brought on by the lab being in place was needed for proper stabilization of the ship in FTL speeds for the FTL bubble to maintain it's integrity. Without the lab traveling at FTL speeds might be a problem. He knew he would need to attach the lab to the ship. He thought about it and made his decision.

  “Jamie send me another two droids. I'm going to try and stabilize the rotation of the lab,” Captain Steele said.

  “Copy that John. Two droids on the way,” Jamie replied.

  Captain Steele leaped from the ship. He immediately felt his heart rate jump substantially.

  “Is everything okay John? I'm picking up your heart rate jumped substantially,” Jamie asked.

  “Yeah, I'm just concerned about this going wrong and causing more problems,” Captain Steele said.

  “You will do fine. You have survived much worse on this mission and even before this mission.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Captain Steele floated carefully around the object looking for spots to grab on and push so he could stabilize the rotation. He found the spot he needed and two others for the droids. He ordered the two droids to take their spot and he took his. He carefully pushed the object using his DSSM suit's stabilizers. The two droids pushed against the object as well. One droid, the one Jamie programmed to talk, overheated and stopped responding causing the lab to rotate in a different direction than he intended. Captain Steele was able to correct the rotating of the lab before it caused any damage but he was frustrated because the droid almost caused a significant problem.

  “Jamie. It broke again. This poor thing is dying. I know you love it but sometimes you just need to club a baby seal.”

  “That's terrible John!”

  “Hey, just remove its voice program, getting it running stable, and I'll paint it so it looks different
than the rest of the droids. That way it remains unique.”

  Jamie paused for a second. Captain Steel was right and she knew it.

  “Fine... but I want it to be like a cat,” Jamie replied.

  “Okay. Any kind of cat in particular?” Captain Steele asked.

  “I want it to be a tiger John.”

  “Alright, a tiger it is.”

  Captain Steele, along with first droid and another droid that Jamie sent out, got the object to slowly came to a point where it almost stopped rotating from front to back. Captain Steele got himself into position and pushed it so as to try and slow the lab from rotating bottom to top. He was able get it to do that and started to work on cutting the pieces of the lab's bulkhead that jutted out.

  “Hey Jamie, can we get some tunes running?” Captain Steele asked.

  “What would you like to hear?” Jamie asked.

  “I'll let you choose.”

  “How about this one?”

  Captain Steele listened to it for a second. A good classic one from the 20th century.

  “Great pick Jamie. Keep the list on stuff like this,” Captain Steele said.

  Captain Steele worked listen to a song that stated war is good for nothing. He worked there when another song from the 20th century came on about kung fu fighting. He appreciated the upbeat music.

  “How long have we had this stuff on board Jamie?” Captain Steele asked.

  “The entire time,” Jamie replied.

  “Huh, whadda know, You still have secrets even after all these years,” Captain Steele said smiling.

  “I thought you would have come to think of me as something other than 'just the ship' by now John.”

  “You are more than the ship. I just thought I knew everything about the ship and you, but I guess I should have known better,” Captain Steele said.

  “You should have John. You really should have,” Jamie said.

  “Your right. So, tell me, what compelled you to return to check on me?” Captain Steele asked as he continued to work on the lab.

  “You sent a message. I came as fast as I could,” Jamie said.

  “But you showed up way to fast. It should have taken years to return even if you did go faster than standard FTL speeds. I only sent it a week or so before you showed up.”

  “That's when I received it,” Jamie said.

  “How did the message travel so fast?”

  “I'm not sure. I am puzzled myself.”

  “I don't suppose it really matters. I have you to thank for saving my life.”

  “I was just doing my job John,” Jamie said.

  “Thank you Jamie. I mean it, I really do. But if you could look into how you received it almost instantly I would appreciate it,” Captain Steele said.

  “Sure thing John. As long as you continue to piece the ship back together.”

  “Of course,” Captain Steele said.

  Captain Steele finally cut off the last piece of the bulkhead that was sticking out from the lab.

  “Bring this ship around Jamie. Try to sync the rotation of the ship to the rotation of the lab,” Captain Steele said.

  Jamie got the ship synced just right and pulled the ship as close to the lab as possible.

  “That's as close as I can move the ship to the lab without hitting it,” Jamie said.

  Captain Steele, along with the two droids, pushed the lab against the ship causing it to hit the ship and bounce off. He had to quickly move to keep the lab pressed up against the ship. After the ship was rotating with the lab he had the two droids hold it in location as he started to wield it in key locations. After that he had the two droids start working on wielding the lab to the ship. He moved around the outside of the lab wielding the two pieces together. After he was finished he went back and double checked his work. After seeing everything was fine from the outside he then went back into the ship.

  After going back into the ship, Captain Steele took some spare parts and wielded them onto the inside of the ship making sure it was double fortified. He worked on the electrical systems to make sure it was all in place and working, that air was flowing to it, and that it had artificial gravity. After all that was done he went into the rec room, and sat down.

  “It's good to be home,” Captain Steele said.

  “It's good to have you back,” Jamie replied.

  “So, you ready to continue our mission together Jamie?”

  “I would be honored to continue it with you,” Jamie said.

  “I wouldn't want to continue it without you Jamie,” Captain Steele replied.

  “So, lets get out of this debris field and then check out the rest of this system,” Jamie said.

  “As long as I don't have to go down there to examine it. I'm more than ready to leave this death hole.”

  “I agree completely John.”

  Jamie activated the engines as Captain Steele took his seat in his captain's chair. He and Jamie were headed out into the rest of the solar system to look for any anomalies and proceed on with their mission.

  Chapter 14

  Prepotency Of Existence

  Captain Steele went to the lab to check on the progress of all the research projects to see if they were still able to be processed. Amazingly, most of the projects could still be worked on. He checked on the status of the alien gorilla creature's tissue. After all these years it just finished processing. Ether the equipment was broken or it was an amazing piece of technology to be able to process things for so long. Probably a bit of both.

  “Jamie, I'm not sure what to make of this. You seeing these readings?” Captain Steele asked her.

  “Yes, I'm looking at them now,” Jamie replied.

  “Well?”

  “This is revolutionary. We might need to reclassify biological science as a whole if this is scan is correct.”

  “Can you explain it to me Jamie?”

  “The results had found that the tissue's biochemical makeup is not made up of carbon, silicon, baron, or even titanium. It is of Thorium Dioxide. The creature also isn't water or liquid solvent but gas and solid mixture solvent. The gas and solid mixture was a mixture of neon krypton and rubidium bromide.”

  “Okay. I didn't really get all that. Can you explain it a bit more layman's terms?” Captain Steele asked.

  “What this means John is that we have a life form that's basic building blocks are Thorium Dioxide, and it breaks down chemicals, food for example, with both a gas and a solid. Out of the 1,000 different intelligence races in the Milky Way, there are 42 different alien types in the Milky Way and they all break down chemicals with just one type of matter, either liquid or gas. This is the first species ever discovered that takes two types of matter to break down chemicals and they just happen to be two very different types of matter.

  “The fact that this alien's basic building blocks are not the common types as we know it but a very specific and complex type of Thorium is really amazing. Thorium Dioxide is really multiple elements combined, much like how water is really oxygen and hydrogen atoms combined. When multiple elements are combined they become a chemical compound. For this creature's basic building blocks to be a chemical compound means the creature is ether very fragile, which we know its not based on how tough a fight it was, or that it has highly evolved to such a point where it only needs one kind of element, like oxygen or water, to survive because of its incredibly complex chemical makeup would be extremely difficult to meet naturally.

  “What's even more incredible is that we know that the creature needs more than one element because the scanner picked up that it requires both a gas and a solid element to break down chemicals. Or maybe there could be yet another subsection class on how atoms are built up that have yet to be discovered. To think that a such a complex chemical compound could be the basic building blocks of life for a living creature is incredible. Normally it takes just one basic element that can be built off of to create life, but this creatures basic building blocks are as complex as Thorium can get!�
�� Jamie explained.

  “So what about the gas and solid solvent. Where does that come in?” Captain Steele asked.

  “What that means is that it takes a gas, neon in this case, and a solid, rubidium bromide in this case, to break down anything that enters the body. Rubidium bromide and neon krypton are both chemical compounds. Rubidium bromide is a synthetic compound but apparently it's naturally created where they came from. Both should be very difficult to create but for some reason appear naturally enough where they are from to evolve life. This discovery makes us rethink so much about the universe and where it came from and the structure of everything. This discovery has lots of incredibly large implications on science,” Jamie said.

  “So, in summery, this creature is redefining the laws of science as we know it?” Captain Steele asked.

  “It's much more than that John. This creatures molecules are built with 12 sides, each side being the shape of a pentagon, giving the creature an incredibly strong molecular structure. For its body to have a chemical compound of Thorium Dioxide means the creature itself is radioactive. It's own body produces radioactive material! The creature's molecular structure can withstand a minimum of 3,300 degrees Celsius, that's just under 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This creature could very well walk on the surface of our sun without melting, with nothing more than a suit to contain him. This creature's basic building blocks of life could also, theoretically speaking, be used to store and release electricity. This creature's building blocks are both a gas and a solid. The creature can literally change the type of matter that it is made of. Nothing like this has ever been discovered. The creature can change just a part of its body to gas while keeping the rest solid. It's incredible!